Kelly McParland: The Senate, as Canadian as Mackenzie King, as permanent as the Rockies

The Senate, as Canadian as Mackenzie King, as immoveable as the Rockies

One aspect of the insidious nature of the Senate is its consistent ability to survive when nobody likes it much.

It’s a lot like William Lyon Mackenzie King in that regard. Like the Senate, no one ever knew what King was up to. For years at a time he didn’t seem to accomplish much. He was just always there, and when it came election time he had the ability to get re-elected. Voters probably didn’t even know why they were voting for him, it just seemed inevitable that he should still be prime minister.

Same with the Senate. The last known Senate enthusiast was spotted hiking through the Sheep River gorge in Alberta in the early 1950s and hasn’t been heard from since. He’s either dead, or still amused that the Senate can’t be gotten rid of without a constitutional change that is impossible without gagging the provinces and locking them in a closet.

The NDP is discovering this. John Ivison explores the possibility of an NDP government that finds itself without a single member in the Senate. How do you pass legislation when all 105 senators aren’t members of your party? The NDP got itself into this position by 1. Never being in power, and 2. Disdaining membership in the Senate anyway, probably beacause it expected #1 would always be true.

For the first time ever, though, it’s remotely possible that Canadians could elect a federal NDP government. I acknowledge a deep personal skepticism about this, since it’s based entirely on polls taken during the summer, three years before an election. Remember how Danielle Smith was going to win in Alberta, and Tim Hudak was a dead cert to replace McGuinty in Ontario, and how Bob Rae was a shoe-in to run for Liberal leader? Oh, and Jean Charest was toast in Quebec because no one wins four elections in a row, especially when they’re as unpopular as Charest. Except now the Liberals and PQ are neck and neck again.

So as far as I’m concerned we’re just pretending. But let’s pretend it happens: the NDP somehow finds itself in power, and there’s the Senate, stacked with Liberals, Conservatives and Others, but no NDP. What do they do?

Well, gee, they couldn’t possibly appoint someone, could they? Because Stephen Harper insisted he’d never lower himself to handing out Senate appointments either, until he actually became prime minister and it became convenient to do so. Now it’s more stuffed with Tories than an Alberta government job fair. The NDP has registered its disgust with this transformation on more than one occasion, but now that it’s discovered itself leading some polls, no matter how early in the game, it has suddenly been seized by the need to accommodate itself to the reality that the Senate isn’t going anywhere.

Besides, Thomas Mulcair is from Quebec, most of his seats are in Quebec, his future as leader of the opposition depends on Quebec, and Quebec would freak if he ever tried to get rid of the Senate. So he’s not likely to. In fact, he may discover, as did Harper, that the place has its attractions, once you’re in position to send it instructions.

See what I said about the place? Politicians come and go, the Senate snoozes on.